Never Ever After
by Cat Typical
Summary: People have started to disappear, and everyone, including Marinette, is perplexed. She has to face Paris alone now, and the pressure is on as she tries to find the missing people—with some unlikely help. *Discontinued*
1. Dinner

༉ Ladybug sat upon a rooftop, gazing at the sunset in which cascaded arrays of soft light. It streaked through the sky. A week before, her faithful partner Cat Noir had disappeared, along with their fierce opponent Hawk Moth. Mayura had seemed to have not used her miraculous since then. Right now, Ladybug only went on patrols—alone. It was lonely, she admitted, it was lonely without Cat Noir. People from school had disappeared, too, including Adrien and Alya. It broke her heart. She didn't know where they had gone, and the pressure of retrieving all of those people rested on her shoulders by the people of Paris. It was all too much. School wasn't basically educational now; nearly half of the staff had vanished, so the remaining teachers offered comfort and fun at school now, like free days everyday. She transformed sometimes, watching over, like the supposed "guardian angel," just lost in her thoughts. As Marinette, she still went to school, mostly to avoid solitude at this time. She knew some of her other friends had disappeared—Rose had gone, leaving Juleka quite mournful with herself. At least now Ladybug, or her civilian self, had no risk of being akumatized in her sorrow. All of her classmates thought of her as a happy, positive girl, and in this time, she didn't want to fail them, so she usually kept her cool at school. Even Tikki seemed rather sad, and though her kwami wouldn't tell her much, Ladybug suspected that it was due to the disappearance of the cat kwami, Plagg. She'd been wondering if Tikki's fondness for Plagg had raised recently, especially for that reason. Ladybug sat and wondered through the evening.

༉ The next morning, Marinette sat up in her bed drearily. Tikki was awake already, staring mournfully out the window. She startled when realizing Marinette and tried a smile, "Good morning! How'd you sleep?" she asked, flying over to her.

༉ "I suppose it could have been better," Marinette responded, "but I'm great otherwise," that was a bit of a lie. She'd been trying to keep a strong posture for everyone else, so she forced her feelings aside. She got ready for school, bid her parents goodbye, and left the house. Waiting for a time to cross the street, Marinette glanced at the sky. Then she finally ambled across the street and met the other side, walking to the school. She pounded up the steps and then entered, forcing her way to the classroom. Marinette came upon an open door and walked in, still shook at the half-empty classroom. Sabrina was talking with Alix, Juleka, and Méilin. The remaining boys sat in seats near each other.

༉ Marinette's gaze trekked to Lila, who sat alone in the back of the classroom, glaring out the window. Chloé hadn't disappeared; she just didn't come to school anymore. School was almost an option now. It never counted against you if you were absent.

༉ Marinette sighed and took her seat, glancing at the spot where Alya should sit beside her. Her lips pursed slightly, but she shook her head and pulled out her phone. She checked the time—it was still relatively early. It didn't matter what time you came in either. Now, they were barely taught anything, and there were no bells.

༉ It was pointless.

༉ "Hello, class," Miss Bustier greeted as she entered the room. A few people mumbled their salutations, but the rest stayed silent.

༉ "All right, why don't we watch the morning news?" asked the teacher, all though she did not wait for an answer. She typed on her laptop before putting the live news on the screen. Every morning, they'd been watching the news to hear information on the missing citizens. The students stopped to watch the news.

༉ Nadja finished up another story before saying, "Back to the case of the missing people—where have they gone? We're here live with a few citizens who say some have reappeared," she held the microphone to one person, who began speaking about how their friend had appeared barely an hour ago.

༉ "See?" said Nadja as she faced the screen again. "Hope is not lost, everyone! Have a good morning. We'll be back tonight."

༉ The class broke into cheers—who wouldn't be excited about this wonderful news? Despite this, Marinette was suspicious. All of it may be false.

༉ "Isn't this great, Marinette?" said Myléne happily. Marinette nodded stiffly, still not sure.

༉ After school, Marinette still wondered about it. She'd had the urge to go on patrol starting at lunch, and decided that she would. Around 5:00, Marinette said that she was going out to eat with her friends, and grabbed her wallet. She quickly exited the house in silence. She wasn't lying; she planned to meet up with Sabrina, Juleka, Alix, Myléne, and, unfortunately, _Lila_—but Marinette didn't consider her as a friend. Sabrina had invited her.

༉ They all met up at a newly-opened restaurant at 5:30. Marinette decided to walk, so it had taken her a while. Then they all went inside, were given a table, and then they took their seats. Marinette attempted to get a seat far from Lila, but she was only two seats down from her.

༉ "I hope our friends come back," said Alix after they'd ordered their food. They all agreed; since Chloé had decided to not come to school anymore, Sabrina had started to become more of an enjoyable person to be around, and Marinette did consider her as a friend now.

༉ When the waiters brought out their food, they talked about their missing friends and family. Marinette poked at her meal, listening. She wasn't very hungry, but she guessed that the delicious smell would draw her in in no time.

༉ _I have a lot of people to miss, _she wanted to say, _I have Alya, my best friend. I have Adrien. I have Cat Noir, and more. _

༉ "Anybody you miss, Marinette?" asked Lila with an unreadable expression. Marinette clenched her fists under the table. They'd suggested that it would be helpful to speak of the troubles they had and it would make them feel better. But for Marinette . . .

༉ it wouldn't.

༉ "I miss Alya, of course," said Marinette, "and Rose," but she decided not to speak of Adrien, especially because of Lila's presence. She figured that wouldn't be a nice conversation. Most likely tension.

༉ "Agreed," smiled Myléne. Marinette sighed, thinking that, if Alya were here, she'd definitely have a way to cheer them all up. They all finished their food at 6:30 and said goodbye, and they all parted ways. It took her a minute to realize that Lila was following her, and Marinette suddenly wasn't in the mood to deal with her crap.

༉ "What do you want, Lila?" she snapped angrily, turning and staring at the girl. Lila looked taken aback at the moment.

༉ "All right, then, I didn't expect that. You're usually so laid-back . . . guess we don't have anything to fight over right now, huh?" said Lila.

༉ "Are you suggesting we be friends?" scoffed Marinette, "Because it's a no. I'd be revolted to call you my friend. You and I will _never _be in an alliance, Lila."

༉ Lila looked surprised by now, most likely by Marinette's furious outburst. She blinked a few times before saying, "It seems I caught you at a bad time," as Myléne passed them and halted for a moment. Lila quickly left and Marinette glanced at Myléne.

༉ Myléne shrugged and continued on her way. Marinette sighed and looked to and fro before walking behind a tree, in which the side she was on was shielded by a cluster of greenery, and said, "Tikki? Let's patrol."

༉ Tikki flew into sight and said, "I'm proud of you for standing up to Lila, Marinette," she said, smiling.

༉ "Thanks, Tikki," said Marinette, and soon after she had transformed into the superheroine Ladybug, Paris's only protecter left. She swung onto the rooftop of the not-far-away now restaraunt and surveyed below. During the week she had patrolled not because she was afraid of a threat, but because she wanted to be on her own, with her thoughts. This was one of those times. And so she sat on the restaraunt's rooftop, looking at the lights below, as the sky had turned a soft orange, and watched.


	2. Meow?

_Ladybug hadn't expected another cat, but what had she got now?_

Ladybug finally rose from her spot on the roof as the sky peaked into an inky darkness. She put her hand on her yoyo, swung it, and threw it to another building so it could wrap around the chimney. After that, she leaped up the building and ran across the roof. If she were to be honest with herself, her patrols were lonely without Cat Noir, but what could she do? The pressure of finding all of these people rested on her shoulders. How was she supposed to find someone who had vanished without a trace? Sometimes she wanted to lock herself in her room. She wanted to hide Ladybug from the stress and the accusations. She was hurting as much as everybody else.

Maybe Paris didn't need Ladybug if there were no villains to fight. What if she shouldn't be Ladybug if she didn't have a partner? It was as though everything was crumbling. Everybody she was closest to had gone, and she had nobody to confide to for questions. With no support, sometimes she just felt lonely. She felt strangely and sadly lonely. 

As Ladybug ran, she jumped over a gap in the roof. She heard a small, plaintive meow, and she nearly skidded off the edge of a roof as she listened out. She knew it couldn't be Cat Noir. She heard the noise again, she she walked to the other side of the roof and looked over the edge. 

A little, shivering cat was pressed against the wall. Its fur was wet and damp. It looked up, seeming to finally see somebody, maybe it hadn't in a long time, and it drew a long, pleading _mew_. Its emerald eyes flashed in the luminescence, and Ladybug felt a stab of pity. She wrapped her yoyo around the chimney of the roof she was on and scaled down the building slowly.

Ladybug held out her hand in a welcoming, reassuring gesture. The cat immediately propelled itself into her arms. She hugged it close to her and scaled back up the building's side. She suddenly had no idea where to put this cat—the shelter? No. If she were honest with herself, the little cat reminded her too much of Cat Noir. She was also a bit unnerved to detransform in front of it, so she wondered what to do with it.

An idea flicked into her mind as her bluebell eyes landed upon the bakery. She clutched the little cat her her grasp and ran along the gleaming rooftop and jumped into the street below, which had no oncoming traffic, and stopped in front of the bakery door. 

She sat the cat down, murmuring, "Okay, stay here, all right? There's a nice girl named Marinette that lives here, and she'll take you in. There will definitely be loads for you to eat," she smiled, "I'll go . . . get her." 

She swung away, up the building opposite, and flashing down onto the bakery and and quickly detransforming. Hoping that the small kitten had stayed, she opened the trapdoor and shut it behind her. Tikki flew alongside her as she exited her room and hurried down the stairs. Marinette jumped the last few steps and opened the bakery door. 

The cat had stayed. 

It meowed and then turned in a cat-like manner, stopping and waiting, as though being a polite little gentleman. Marinette smiled slightly and picked up the cat, closing the door behind her. She immediately ran into her mother, who looked bewildered. 

"Oh, who is this?" she asked. Marinette looked down at the cat. 

"He—he's a stray. I found him," she responded, "mind if he stays here for a while?" 

"Of course not!" her mother said, "Go ahead and take him to your room, and grab some leftovers from the stands." 

"O-okay," said Marinette, surprised at her willingness. Either way, she took it and hurried up to her room. Tikki had been waiting for her by the trapdoor and Marinette sat the cat in her room after entering. 

"Oh, look how cute he is!" Tikki said, flying around, but still keeping low. Even if an animal, only she and her chosen must know her masked identity. 

Eventually, Marinette had went downstairs and grabbed a few croissants. She'd given them to the little cat, who had vigorously devoured the food. She thought for a moment, wondering if she should give the tom a name. She abruptly smiled, and, turning to Tikki, she asked, "What do you think about Noir?" 

"Noir?" echoed the Kwami. "That's nice, Marinette. You miss your friends, don't you? I miss Plagg, I'll say that." 

"Aw, I do, Tikki. I really do," she murmured sadly as the cat, Noir, finished eating his last croissant. He sat up, his whiskers quivering, and meowed. 

"Okay," she murmured tiredly, "should we get some sleep? I'm exhausted." 

Tikki agreed, and so did Noir; the cat yawned, arched his back, and curled up simply on the floor. Marinette climbed into her bed and Tikki lay at the foot of her bed. Marinette's vision swam dreamily, and a moment later, she dripped slowly into sleep. 


End file.
